The present invention relates broadly to alloyed 2N copper wires for bonding in microelectronics.
Fine Au, Cu, and Al wires are widely used for interconnections in integrated chips. Silver wires have also been examined for unique applications. For Au and Al wires, usually 2N to 4N purities (99 to 99.99 %) are utilized, while only 4N purity is typically used for Cu. 5N to 8N purity Cu wires have been examined, but are not in practice. Dopants are often added to wires for specific properties, such as loop capabilities, reliability, bondability, corrosion resistance, etc. Wires in the range of 18 μm to 75 μm diameter are commonly used in wire bonding. For high current carrying applications, wires in the diameter range of 200 μm to 400 μm are typically employed.
Alloys for wires are typically continuously cast into rods of 2 mm to 25 mm diameter and are further drawn in heavy, intermediate, and fine steps. The fine drawn wires are annealed at high temperatures around 0.25 to 0.6 Tm (melting point of the wire) and later spooled, vacuum packed and stored for bonding.
Several patents report the benefits of doped and alloyed Cu wires. For example, the addition of 0.13 to 1.17 mass % Pd is reported to provide wires with high reliability in the pressure cooker test (PCT). Cu wires doped with <700 ppm Mg and P, maintaining 30 ppm of oxygen (O), and with the addition of elements Be, Al, Si, In, Ge, Ti, and V (6-300 ppm) and Ca, Y, La, Ce, Pr, and Nd (<300 ppm) were found to be good for bonding. The addition of Nb and P in the range of 20-100 ppm, along with the elements Cs, Lu, Ta, Re, Os, Ir, Po, At, Pr, Pm, Sm, and Gd (<50 ppm) and Zr, Sn, Be, Nd, Sc, Ga, Fr, and Ra (<100 ppm) were reported to yield soft and bondable wires. A bondable Cu wire was produced when doped with a maximum of 1000 ppm of the elements Mn, Co, Ni, Nb, Pd, Zr and In. If the wire contained Be, Fe, Zn, Zr, Ag, Sn, V <2000 ppm, it was found to be bondable and reliable. Other prior art reports that the addition of boron (B) up to 100 ppm with a small amount of Be, Ca, and Ge (<10 ppm), while maintaining sulfur (S) at <0.5 ppm, yielded a wire that exhibited low ball hardness and reduced work hardening. Cu wire containing Cr<25 ppm, Zr<9 ppm, Ag<9 ppm, and Sn<9 ppm demonstrated bondability as good as Au wire. The low level additions of Fe, Ag, Sn, and Zr<9 ppm were reported to produce a normal bondable wire. Further, the addition of the elements B, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, K, V, Ga, Ge, Rb, Sr, Y, Mo, Cd, Cs, Ba, Hf, Ta, Tl, and W<1000 ppm provided superior properties suitable for bonding.
Other prior art reports that Cu wire processed using ultra high purity Cu, such as 8N (99.999999%), and containing O, C, H, N, S, and P<1 ppm produced soft wire with 40 HV hardness. Further, Cu wires processed using purity 5N and 6N and doped with any one of the elements or combined with different combinations of Ti, Cr, Fe, Mn, Ni, and Co and maintaining <4.5 ppm showed good bondability. The combination of Hf, V, Ta, Pd, Pt, Au, Cd, B, Al, In, Si, Ge, Pb, S, Sb, and Bi at <4.5 ppm with Nb<4.5 ppm using 5N and 6N purity Cu also showed good bondability. The addition of Ti at 0.12-8.4 ppm along with Mg, Ca, La, Hf, V, Ta, Pd, Pt, Au, Cd, B, Al, In, Si, Ge, Pb, P, Sb, Bi, and Nb at <0.16-8.1 ppm is taught to yield wires suitable for bonding. A Cu wire with an impurity of <4 ppm and containing Mg, Ca, Be, In, Ge, Tl<1 ppm performed equal to Au wire and was soft as 35 HV.
In other prior art, a clean spherical free air ball was achieved using 4N Cu wire containing Mg, Al, Si, and P<40 ppm. Similarly, a Cu wire of 40 to 50 HV was attained, maintaining a purity <10 ppm with the addition of La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Sc, and Y<20 ppm or Mg, Ca, Be, Ge, and Si<20 ppm. Cu wire with the addition of Ni and Co<100 ppm and Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Zr, Nb, Pd, Ag, In, and Sn<150 ppm showed corrosion resistance and hardness of 41 HV. Also, Cu wire containing Ti, Fe, Cr, Mn, Ni, and Co<150 ppm performed quite well on bonding. A soft Cu wire with <49 HV was attained using zone refined Cu and maintaining Mg, Ca, Ti, Zr, and Hf<100 ppm. The addition of elements Be, Sn, Zn, Zr, Ag, Cr, and Fe to a maximum 2 wt %, with maintained H, N, O, C contents and controlled gas creation (H2, CO, N2, O2) during free air ball, provided a superior bond strength. Further, adding 400 ppm of Mg and traces of Fe and Ag provided reduction in crack formation near the heat affected zone (HAZ). The wire was corrosion resistant and it was processed using 6N purity Cu. The addition of La<0.002 wt %, Ce<0.003 wt %, and Ca<0.004 wt % to a 4N Cu wire provided a long storage life.
Generally, there is a demand for alloyed Cu wires with good bondability, free air ball formation in an inert or reactive environment, reliability, in particular under highly accelerated stress test (HAST), good looping performance, and easy drawability in mass production scale properties. Slight increases in resistivity of 5-15% are typically the disadvantage of alloyed Cu wires. However, if the wire exhibits superior reliability performance, especially under HAST, the wire is attractive even with increased resistivity and cost.